While American sports fans often get to see their fair share of baseball, basketball and football themed movies, it’s not often that cricket hits the silver screen in this country.

This Saturday, on November 13th, people in New York will get an opportunity this weekend when Rohit Kulkarni’s “Pitch of Dreams: Cricket in America” will be shown at the Tenth Annual Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival.

“It’s really funny that apart from the cricket playing community, a lot of people don’t know about the happenings of cricket," the film's director Rohit Kulkarni told DreamCricket.com.  "It would be a good opportunity for cricket lovers to watch this documentary to know more about the game of cricket, the history of this game and also the current situation of this game (in USA),” he added.

Kulkarni's film has appeared in four other festivals so far this year, including the East Carolina Film Festival in April and All Sports Los Angeles Film Festival in July.  “Pitch of Dreams: Cricket in America” is scheduled to be screened on Saturday at 12:30 pm at the SVA Silas Theater. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased by clicking here.

“The biggest selling point is obviously its association with mainstream America in the sense that the historical association that America has with cricket which is fairly unknown, even the baseball fanatics here don’t know that before baseball it was cricket and the guy who wrote the first rules of baseball was a cricket player,” said Kulkarni. “So there are certain interesting elements about the history.”

"No one I think ever attempted first to make this connection and show the excitement related to cricket and I think that’s one of the main factors of this documentary, to show America that this game is very exciting and a lot of people are playing it, whether it’s the immigrant population or whether it’s the first, second generation of American kids.”

PITCH OF DREAMS! CRICKET IN AMERICA

Synopsis
 
One of the World’s most popular sports had a good run in the United States before being overshadowed by the all-American sport of baseball. Cricket originated in England and travelled to all British Colonies including the United States. Soldiers in the continental Army played it, Washington’s troops played it, and it was a popular sport before the civil war. This documentary explores the unique and fascinating history of a sport that once enjoyed success in this country for well over 200 years. Today, there are signs of a nascent revival. Immigrants from cricket playing nations have brought their passion for the sport to their adopted country. By some estimates, nearly 200,000 cricket players can be found in professional leagues across the States. We meet young Americans determined to succeed in a game that is fairly unknown to their countrymen. We also witness how lovers of the sport juggle full-time jobs and their passion.

Director Rohit Kulkarni:

Based in Washington DC, Rohit started his professional career almost a decade ago. He assisted on a number of film projects and documentaries before directing corporate films, promotional films, and videos. A full-time international news producer in DC, he has been involved in producing news segments, reports, breaking news, long and short fomat programming for the South Asian audience. His first independent documentary, Pitch of Dreams! Is the result of his love for sport mixed with his passion for film making.

DVD copies of the film are also available to purchase. For more information about “Pitch of Dreams: Cricket in America” write to citylightsfilms@gmail.com.